1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to dice and more particularly to collectible dice that can be used for playing a game.
2. Background Art
Garfield U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,332 issued Sep. 2, 1997 shows the use of collectible trading cards that are used in playing the game xe2x80x9cMagic The Gatheringxe2x80x9d. Indeed, the use of collectible trading cards in playing a game is also shown in Castro U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,525 issued Apr. 13, 1993 and in Crowder U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,173 issued Sep. 8, 1992. Like cards, dice have long been used for playing games. Moreover, the inclusion within dice of something that may, or may not, affect the play of the game using the dice is shown in Morris U.S. Des. Pat. No. D142,576 issued Jan. 1, 1945; Gould U.S. Pat. No. 2,090,837 issued Aug. 15, 1935; Kohlhagen U.S. Pat. No. 4,148,448 issued Apr. 10, 1979, Baker U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,351 issued Aug. 14, 1979; and Jennings U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,300 issued Jul. 21, 1993. Nevertheless, there remains a need for dice which, because of what is contained within, and on, them, makes them collectible and also makes them significant in the play of a game.
The present invention is concerned with providing collectible dice comprising a plurality of dice, each including a multi-faceted polyhedron having an opaque base facet, with a three dimensional character positioned on the base facet and contained within each die, at least one of the facets of each die, other than the base facet, is transparent or translucent so as to permit viewing of the character; and indicia are contained on at least one facet of each die.
The present invention is also concerned with providing a game that includes obtaining a collection of dice from a universe of distinctive dice, each die of the universe of distinctive dice being multi-faceted and containing a viewable, three dimensional character of a specific nature, and having indicia on at least one facet of the die, so as to be distinguishable from each other die of the universe, establishing a set of dice from the collection, selecting at least one of the set of dice for use in a given turn of the game, casting the at least one selected die, and determining the value of the cast from a combination of the character contained within the die and the indicia showing on the upwardly facing facet of the die after it has been cast and come to rest.